Description

As the grievances in the American colonies begin to grow into an armed disagreement, the rest of the world seems to be bystanders in a conflict they didn't believe possible. Even in England, the people could not fathom any colony or group of colonies to take up arms against the mightiest nation in the world. The nobility were still indulging in their favorite pastimes, such as horse racing. Lady Christine Patterson, the Duchess of Ramapo, wanted to join in the game, but found that it was purely a gentleman's sport. As she wished to learn the secrets of breeding winning racers, she was locked out of the clubhouse. So, in her own way and style, she and her band of 'Loving Ladies' set out to break the boundaries of this 'men's only' club. They used their personal skills to extract and learning these secrets. Her education led her to search for the fastest breeds in the world. The Duchess with her friends, the Countess Lady Elizabeth Farthington, the Baroness of Tunbridge Lady Julia Fenton and Christine's cousin the Lady Margaret Hamilton decide to travel to Africa, and the Mediterranean in search of racing horses. What they found were new friends, new loves, old loves, and death. They travel to Amsterdam, Tunis, Siena, Florence, Verona, Venice, Vienna, Munich, and Strasbourg and back to Amsterdam. Attacked by pirates off the coast of Spain and finding escort from a British man-of-war from the Straights of Gibraltar to the coast of Italy, they sailed in Viika Hendriksen's ship the Kwart Maan. Christine learns that in finding her horses was much more than she bargained for when she started this adventure.